IN SEARCH OF THE REAL-LIFE OTHER Reena Kapoor as Rani in SaharaOne's "Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki".

IN SEARCH OF THE REAL-LIFE OTHER Reena Kapoor as Rani in SaharaOne's "Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki".

With a well-known brand like Rajashri Productions opening account on SaharaOne with its tele- soap, "Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki" just a few months ago, the channel seems quite upbeat. Arguably, no other serial on SaharaOne has seen so much promotional activities as "Woh Rehne Waali... " And just a few weeks back, it started a viewers' contest too.

Named `Real Life Rani Contest', it is an attempt to "find" the real life counterpart of the serial's protagonist Rani played by Reena Kapoor. According to the storyline, Rani, born with a silver spoon, had to fight life's harsh realities as material comforts leave her side one day.

Says the channel's Chief Operating Officer Purnendu Bose, "There are many such Ranis in our society. We want to bring to light the stories of such people through this contest. We want to search such women who have transformed from delicate daughters to women of strength. This is also to tell our viewers that the serial's story is true to many people."

All one needs to do is dash off a one-page e-mail (contest@tv.sahara-one.com) or a post card to the channel's Lower Parel office writing about why the contestant feels she is a Rani.

"The prize is a chance to meet the reel-life Rani. Also, there is a special surprise which we would not like to disclose now," adds Bose.

Besides the serial's promotional activities, Bose feels, "it is getting a good response also because it has a convincing story convincingly told."

He is happy that its TRPs are on an ascent now. "We have beaten Sony TV and Zee TV in the 9 p.m. slot on week days now because of `Woh Rehne Waali... ' In the week ending July 2, the show delivered sustained TVRs across four weekday nights hitting a high of 2.3 TVRs on Wednesday night."

Female support

And the serial, he adds, is particularly popular among women between the age group of 25 and 34.

"Among this age group, it recorded average TVRs of 2.92 for the entire week ahead of Sony TV's 2.88 and Zee TV's 1.56," he says.

"This shows that in this era of saas-bahu sagas, our different content has been welcomed by the viewers. A lot of credit goes to Rajashri Productions too," adds Bose.

But Sir, Star Plus with its saas and bahu brigade is still way ahead of all entertainment channels.